Paprikash

When I moved to Colorado, I had to rebuild my list of go-to stores for my standard vegetarian items.  I used to buy a chicken substitute called FriChik at my local health food store in Kalamazoo, but I couldn't find it anywhere near my new home.  And by "anywhere near," I mean within a two-hour radius.  Luckily, I was finally able to find an online retailer that could ship some to me.  I just got my delivery last week, and one thing I wanted to do with my FriChik was make paprikash.

Paprikash is a traditional Hungarian chicken dish.  The chicken is stewed in a sauce made with lots of Hungarian paprika.  There are many variations of the dish, but the versions that Americans are most familiar with are usually made with tomatoes and sour cream. 

There are numerous vegetarian chicken substitutes, and I have a few that I use regularly.  Each has its own pros and cons, and is good for some things and not others.  For instance, Morningstar Farms Chik'n Strips are great for stir-frying, but not for very saucy dishes, as they soak up liquids and can become soggy.  I like using FriChik for saucy dishes because it holds up really well to liquids, but also because the taste works quite well with the paprikash sauce.

I make my paprikash with chopped onions and bell peppers sauteed in oil and butter, lots of paprika, a little bit of some type of chile pepper (crushed red pepper, ground ancho, or something else), garlic, salt and pepper, some type of tomatoes, and veggie stock or water.  I use canned tomatoes, tomato sauce, or tomato paste depending on what I have in the house.  After the sauce has simmered a little I add several pieces of FriChik and simmer some more.  Then at the very end I mix together sour cream, milk, flour and a little of the paprikash sauce, stir it into the pot, and let it come back up to a gentle simmer briefly just to thicken the sauce a bit.  One bonus of using vegetarian meat substitutes is that I can make a dish like this, which usually will have to cook on the stove for an hour or more, in only about 20 minutes, since the veggie meat is already cooked.  Paprikash is traditionally served with spaetlze-style dumplings, but I serve mine over egg noodles, which is also very good.

Dan had never had paprikash or FriChik before, and he gave both two thumbs up.  If you like paprika, paprikash is a very simple-to-make and satisfying dish.  And, luckily for me and other veggies out there, we do have some good chicken-substitute options, so that we can enjoy this type of dish, too.

Happy eating!